Words and Thoughts of Joshua Scott Witsaman

Tag Archives: Allison Blaire

Oh hello there! I’m being told that this post is late, that it isn’t actually Friday, and that I’ve really slacked quite a bit this week. My apologies, earlier this week I was tapped to be the starter at a race between a Delorean and a phone booth and when those suckers took off I was caught up in their backwash. The tachyon eddies that resulted created a temporal vortex which sucked me through time and space sending me on a whirlwind adventure through the ages. So technically as I’m posting this it is indeed Friday, though to all of you individuals who are firmly grounded in the present it might appear that this is actually being posted on Saturday. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Anyway, onto the comic book goodness! Today’s panels come to us from way back in 1981 and Dazzler #2, with words by Tom DeFalco and art by the legendary John Romita Jr. The cover of the issue reads “Last Stand In Discoland!” and this is early on in the elaborate mythos of Dazzler, as the readers were still being introduced to her character. As with most of Marvel’s heroes, young Allison Blaire, though she is a superhero she has her own real world hangups. Here we discover that although Dazzler has mutant powers, is a rising pop star, a roller disco champ, a part-time superhero, and she’s friends with the X-Men, Spider-Man, and the Fantastic Four, she receives little satisfaction from these achievements because her father is a curmudgeon. In the grand scheme of things she’s doing really well for a superhero. At least her father isn’t dead, she’s not an alcoholic, she isn’t haunted by demons (either figuratively or literally), she’s not trapped in a world she never created, and she’s not some conflicted triple agent trying to do the right thing in a bad system.

So her father thinks she should drop the song and light show routine and get a real job? Big deal. In a few issues she’ll be fighting Galactus (Dazzler #10) and I’m sure he’ll totally forget all about the other stuff then! Also as a mutant Dazzler has really lucked out. She’s already dodged a bullet by not being one of those grotesque mutants whose mutation effects their outward appearance AND her mutant abilities (transmuting sound waves into patterns of visible light) work out perfectly with her chosen profession! She can easily display her powers without drawing the suspicion of bigoted normals. Heck, with the plethora of X-Men movies on the horizon Dazzler could even find herself portrayed on the big screen one day!

I say Dazzler needs to buck up! She’s really got the world by the balls, and in this post-feminism age there’s no reason she should feel guilty, or postpone her dreams because of some arcane impression that she needs some type of male approval for her choices. Am I right ladies?

I have no idea what I’m talking about, perhaps that time rift has effected me more than I previously suspected . . . .